


It's About Time

by amerrierworld



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Afterlife, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Marauders Reunion, request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-19
Updated: 2020-12-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:15:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28174518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amerrierworld/pseuds/amerrierworld
Summary: Remus wakes one last time.
Kudos: 8





	It's About Time

**Author's Note:**

> request for @crescentnightwood on tumblr: Remus arrives in the afterlife and he, Sirius, and James share an emotional group hug? Marauders reunited

The first breath he took felt as clear and cold as the first snowfall of winter. Remus shot up from where he was lying down, his entire body tense and brimming with an electricity he couldn’t understand. 

It was bright around him, _very_ bright. Everything was a hazy white, but he recognized the old Gryffindor dormitory immediately. Even with the muted colours and tidied room, he knew this place like the back of his hand. A place he often fled to, a place in which he hid, when the outside world became a little too much to bear. 

He grabbed at his chest, were he felt a dull pounding, but it wasn’t his heart. No, his heart wasn’t beating anymore, and he slowly remembered why. He remembered flashes of light, Hogwarts in ruins, searing pain, and Tonks.. by his side.

He turned his head, glancing around. He was on his old bed. Somehow, it fit him this time. It shouldn’t have, because his legs were always long and dangly, but it did.

“Tonks?” he asked into the stillness. 

“She’ll be coming soon, mate,” a familiar voice said from his right. Startled, Remus looked to find Sirius suddenly sitting on his old bed too. Dressed in edgy black, with the same shit-eating grin on his face, he lounged backwards and clasped his hands behind his head on the pillow.

“Sirius? What in Merlin’s name..”

“You should’ve seen him when he first got here,” James laughed from his left. He was sitting on the side of his own bed, spinning his wand nonchalantly in his hand. Remus twisted his body the other way so quickly he may have snapped his spine had he not been dead. “His jaw was on the floor.”

“Well that’s what happens when you figure out you’re _dead,_ Potter,” Sirius cackled.

“I don’t believe it.. the both of you..” Remus kept looking between the two men sitting beside him, eyes brimming with tears.

“Oh now, don’t start sniffling Moony, you only just got here!”

“Yeah and it’s about time!” James added. “There’s plenty of people you still gotta get through before the waterworks start.”

“Well excuse me for being emotional at seeing my best friends in person again,” Remus grumbled, rubbing at his eyes. 

James grinned at Remus and pushed his glasses up his nose, like he always did in school. 

“Why here?” Remus asked. “Is there a specific reason we’re in the Gryffindor dorms of all places?”

“Because this is where the _magic_ happened, Moony!” Sirius threw his hands up like a great declaration had been made. “All the Marauders, mischiefing their way through school, terrorizing the teachers and _still_ making it out in the end without any Ministry on our asses!”

“ _All_ the Marauders?” Remus pointed out, looking at the one empty bed across from him. A silence fell over the three wizards.

“He’s not welcome here,” Sirius said coldly. “We don’t even bother with him.”

“Hm. Still, feels a little incomplete, don’t you think?” Remus asked. “It was always four of us Gryffindors, together.”

“Do you have room for a female Marauder then?” Remus looked up to see Lily sitting on Peter’s old bed, her red hair the brightest thing in the entire room, and he sucked in a breath.

“Lily!” 

He smiled, remembering her kindness, her wisdom, and her sharp wit whenever faced with James’ stupidity. 

He remembered learning about her being pregnant with Harry, the teary voice and the hug he received. He remembered her as one of his dearest friends, and the pain he’d felt when knowing she and James had been killed.

He must’ve shown it on his face, because Lily got up and came to sit next to him and grabbed his hand in hers. Her touch was warm and he wiped away the next wave of tears again. 

“Geez, you really became an old sod didn’t you?” Sirius piped up. Lily chucked a pillow at his head, and he snorted. 

“It’s good to see you, Remus,” Lily said to him, rubbing his back. “James wouldn’t stop talking about what you did for our son.”

Remus smiled weakly, “I did what anyone would’ve done in my situation. He.. well, he needed help, didn’t he? Without his father around, I figured..”

Remus paled a little at his own words, “Father... his.. father.. oh _God.”_

The tears ran freely this time, hot and real, and he pressed his hands to his face. The bed dipped as Sirius came to sit on his other side and James next to Lily.

“I had a son too, a boy... Teddy,” Remus choked out, “I left him behind. Alone.”

“Oh, you didn’t leave him behind, you idiot. Look! You’re still thinking of him, still caring about him, you just can’t be with him physically, that’s all,” Sirius clapped him on the back. 

“Plus, you really think our Harry will let that boy be on his own? Hm? You made him his godfather, and if he learned anything from you or Sirius, it’s that you don’t always need your biological family to feel at home,” Lily smiled kindly at him, reaching over to grasp James’ hand.

“Not to mention the Weasleys, wow! Merlin’s beard, were they ever the saints?” James laughed, making Remus chuckle. “Can’t wait for you to see Fred again, Remus, he-,”

“Fred? What happened to Fred?”

James stilled, “oh, shit. Right, you weren’t with him.”

“Fred died in the Battle too, Remus,” Sirius said, his tone quite serious now. “He’s been saying hello to a bunch of old ginger relatives at the Burrow. We can visit him too, if you want.”

“Oh, poor Fred..” Remus sighed. “What losses war brings. Terrible.”

“It’s not all loss, I don’t think. You lose the land of the living, sure, but you get to be with people like us, again.”

“That’s probably worse,” Remus said, earning him a slap on the back of his head. But, the newly reunited Marauders chuckled, and held onto each other tightly.

“Lily, what you said about Teddy, being alone.. do you mean that-,” he could barely say it. “Tonks?”

Lily’s face was that of sadness, and she nodded slowly. “She’s outside.”

Remus looked to the door, his heart sinking. He had never wanted to put her in this much danger, never wanted her to risk so much..

“She wanted to give us some time with you first, considering how long it’s been, but we can go get her.”

“Or we can go to her, if you want. Stretch those legs, we can show you around.”

“Oh? What else is there?”

“Oh plenty of places! Sirius got here with the rooftop from where he escaped on a Hippogriff, and I got here with the Quidditch playing field.”

“What, so you appear in the areas that you miss the most?”

“Not necessarily, its more a place that _means_ the most, or has a lot of substance in your life.”

Remus was quiet, and then looked at his two best friends, “we all got here with a place in Hogwarts, huh?”

“It _is_ a pretty special place,” James smiled. 

“Now come,” Lily ushered them off the bed. “Remus needs to see Tonks, and then we have to get ready to see Harry.”

“Wh-Harry? He isn’t dead, is he?” 

“Oh no! He’s just got the Resurrection Stone, and is going to want to see us soon.”

“How do you know all that?”

Lily grinned, “a mother’s instinct.”

They got up and let Remus lead the way, opening the door to be greeted by Tonks, grinning and beaming at him from their son’s first bedroom, lights dangling along the ceiling and a crib filled with adored stuffed animals. 

She threw her arms around his neck and laughed, a sound he had so missed. Remus closed his eyes as both Sirius and James place their hands on his shoulders, and he felt at peace.

**Author's Note:**

> Maybe I cried writing this, maybe I didn't! You'll never know


End file.
